The United States will require at least 52,000 more family doctors in the year 2025 to keep up with the growing and increasingly older U.S. population, a new study found.

The predictions also reflect the passage of the Affordable Care Act  a change that will expand health insurance coverage to an additional 38 million Americans.

"The health care consumer that values the relationship with a personal physician, particularly in areas already struggling with access to primary care physicians should be aware of potential access challenges that they may face in the future if the production of primary care physicians does not increase," said Dr. Andrew Bazemore, director of the Robert Graham Center for Policy Studies in Primary Care and co-author of the study published Monday in the Annals of Family Medicine.

Stephen Petterson, senior health policy researcher at the Robert Graham Center, said the government should take steps  and quickly  to address the problem before it gets out of hand.

"There needs to be more primary care incentive programs that give a bonus to physicians who treat Medicaid patients in effort to reduce the compensation gap between specialists and primary care physicians," said Petterson, who co-authored the study with Bazemore.

< snip >

Green added that he believes this is because currently primary care specialties are not well paid, well treated or respected as compared to subspecialists.

< snip >

Perhaps the best known example of this approach has been Massachusetts, which since 2006 has mandated that every resident obtain health insurance and those that are below the federal poverty level gain free access to health care. But although the state has the second-highest ratio of primary care physicians to population of any state, they are struggling with access to primary care physicians.

As if health care in the U.S. didn't have enough problems... here comes ObamaCare.

RomneyCare in MA already shows the strain of access to healthcare. 'Tis the future of ObamaCare or single-payer (government-paid) "planned economy" of health care.

Some doctors already understand what's coming: "Coverage" and "access" are not the same thing, when it takes months or a year to see primary care physician.

But the people of MA wanted it, and Romney said it was good for MA. They were told about the "coverage" part, nobody told them about the "access" part, which is basically rationing of health care and hits mostly those who can least afford to pay?

I say, Good. Dying in the gutter, whether from a brick to the head, from war in Syria, from a Muslim dirty bomb, from hyperinflation and empty stores, from the disappearance of doctors—in other words, all the things the Obama voters voted for—is the only way morons who vote for Democrats will wake up.

3
posted on 11/15/2012 1:05:12 AM PST
by Arthur McGowan
(If you're for sticking scissors in a baby girl's neck and sucking out her brains, you are PRO-WOMAN!)

Uh... let’s see... work my arse off as an undergrad to get into a good medical school... work my arse off in med school to get an internship... work my arse off as an intern so I can get a residency... work my arse off as a resident so I can spend the rest of my life being dictated to by some government commissar about what I can and can’t do, what I can and can’t charge...?

Uh... nah, don’t think so!

Thanks to socialized medicine, there will be far fewer doctors in future, and an explosion of patients getting in on all that subsidized healthcare.

Good luck getting in the door of any hospital in America with an urgent problem.

No matter how onerous health care rationing becomes for the majority, the Democrat elites will have the best. No doubt even today in Boston under Romneycare if Elizabeth Warren, Patrick Duval, John Kerry, the royal Kennedys, or even Mitt himself can get same day service with a primary care physician while the average senior waits months for an appointment.

Now that the federal government has rejected the free market it will have to ration services by some mechanism. Expect most life enhancing and prolonging services to be denied to the average citizen over age 75. Expect to see seniors die everday due to delayed receipt of essential services. Consultation with a real MD will become rare for the average citizen who will depend on nurse practitioners, PA’s, and self treatment.

There will also be government regulations regarding priority of treatment in understaffed emergency rooms. When a white 65 year old female citizen insured by Medicare and suffering from a massive heart attack arrives in the emergency room at the same time as a 22 year uninsured male non English speaking undocumented gang member with a gunshot wound, who do you think will be treated first if there is only one MD available? Likely there will be a government regulations defining priority based on age, sex, and race.

One question is how will the elites be identified as having priority for service? When the 75 year non celebrity white Democrat Harvard professor emeritus, former undersecretary of state and frequent contributor to the NY Times editorial page lands in a Richmond, VA urban hospital one evening after suffering a heart attack at a conference, how will the hospital know to give him priority over the 12 year old minority gunshot victim? Will he have a special chip embedded in his arm or will there be a special notation on his Medicare card? Perhaps this is the real reason for the requirement all medical records are being digitized and linked in national databases. As soon as his record pops up, the ER staff sees a special flag that tells them to focus all of their efforts on saving the VIP.

Even more important, if you are a member of the elite class, is how your case is prioritized by the medical community when you need care at the same time as another VIP. For example will Warren Buffett have priority over a retired Leon Panetta or will senior government service triumph over private sector wealth when the best surgeon can only handle one person at a time? Will Jessie Jackson have priority over Hillary Clinton due to his race or will Hillary’s sex and government service give her higher standing? Some government bureaucrat is going to have to write the rules to guide the caregivers because decisions like these are too important to delegate to the health care providers on the front line.

Imagine the rules for allocating organs or medicine when there is a shortage. Will access to the best brain surgeon in the US be limited to the elites only or will there be guidelines allowing her to handle a few cases of medical interest involving average citizens? Perhaps the Secretary of HHS will maintain the appointment books of the top surgeons, oncologists, and medical specialists in the nation.

My point is that health care rationing will necessarily result in the institutionalization of status and privilege defined by political leaders. Not unlike the royalty of Europe assigning titles to the upper crust of society. Perhaps the simplest thing is for us to acknowledge openly the concept of individual equality is now dead and move forward by having the government assign titles of rank to each citizen. The current administration might designate conservative average citizens in flyover country as “untouchable” to the applause of the media and academia.

I would think the best choice is to hustle up doctors from Cuba (they produce statistically more doctors than any nation on the face of the Earth). We develop friendly relations with those Cuba folks...which ought to be a priority with the Obama administration, and makes all the Latinos happy in the end.

"Coverage" and "access" are not the same thing, when it takes months or a year to see primary care physician.

That's exactly right. "Health care reform" -- whether in Massachusetts through Romneycare or in the U.S. under Obamacare -- was never about providing more health care to people. It was about forcing people to buy insurance whether they wanted to or not. That's why the insurance industry basically wrote Obamacare ... because a system where coverage is mandated while access is limited is an insurance company's dream.

My GP says he’ll retire in the next year and he’s only in his mid-50’s. As far as doctor crunch...already here in our area due to much older population (I’m assuming.) Takes me 6 weeks to get an appt. with my GP. If it’s something that is urgent, you either take an appt. with the Nurse Practitioner or go to the walk-in.

Took me 6 months to get an appt. with a neurologist who specializes in my disease (he was specialist who was based at the University.) Now he headed for the hills, resigned and took a job with a big name pharmaceutical.

And the most recent doctor shortage (in neurologists and other health care providers) in our area comes from a large health care conglomerate that can’t come to an agreement with our insurance company (United). This health care conglomerate has several hospitals and a large portion of doctors in their organization (about 70% of neurologists in our area, it is estimated they include 34% of all health care facilities and providers.) So if they (the insurance and the health care conglomerate don’t come to an agreement within a couple weeks...it’s going to be bad news for lots of patients.) Crunch time at other hospitals and providers that will accept the plan.

Uh... let's see... work my arse off as an undergrad to get into a good medical school... work my arse off in med school to get an internship... work my arse off as an intern so I can get a residency... work my arse off as a resident so I can spend the rest of my life being dictated to by some government commissar about what I can and can't do, what I can and can't charge...?

You forgot to add the debt, accumulated as you "work your arse off."

Thanks to socialized medicine, there will be far fewer doctors in future, and an explosion of patients getting in on all that subsidized healthcare.

You mean, as in higher demand and lower supply? What do they call it in economics?

Healthcare in the US id officially f*cked.

I think that's the idea and the correct answer to the above question.

28
posted on 11/15/2012 3:55:15 AM PST
by CutePuppy
(If you don't ask the right questions you may not get the right answers)

“Doctors will be replaced by computers. You enter your symptoms and the computer spits out a prescription.”

Actually, I trust that more than an Affirmative Action trained doctor. My sister diagnosed our mom’s deadly disease via Google after her A.A. doctor told her she was “just getting old” and sent her packing. Sister saved her life; doctor didn’t want to be bothered.

OR it is working just as designed. It is not about heaqlthcare. It is about power and control. The country is moving toward the classic model of a ruling party elite who will have immediate access to the best health care and the rest of the fine life and a downtrodden mass of serfs who will wait in long lines and must conform to every diktat of the Regime or be consigned to even less care and a path to gradual death.

The key to “selling” socialized care is the allure of “universal coverage”..... Meaning everybody has a “ health care policy” into which they pay monthly.

Basically another Social Security and Medicare style payroll deduction is considered ideal by the fascists/proto-fascists that now run this country.

The “key” to making it all work however, is having NO access to the system....which is best accomplished by having NO primary care docs.
This is only means by which the monthly payroll deduction can be retained for the play and use of the fascists. They consider the actual health care of those from whom they take the money “a waste of a good opportunity”

34
posted on 11/15/2012 4:17:05 AM PST
by mo
(If you understand, no explanation is needed. If you don't understand, no explanation is possible.)

"I'm trying to recall a Clintoon policy which CLOSED MEDICAL Schools... and I expected this shortage!

Anybody else remember that, or was it a dream?

About 20 years ago, there was an absolute cap placed on the number of Medicare-funded resident training positions in US hospitals. Since the number of residency positions was historically greater than the number of US medical school graduates, the difference was made up by foreign medical school graduates in the past. The number of US medical school graduates has been increasing since then, so the number of residency positions that are offered to foreign medical school graduates (and that are necessary to complete before the doctor can be licensed) is getting very small.

I think the statistic is that about 1/3 of US physicians are age 55 or above and so have already retired, are going to retire, are cutting back their hours, or at least aren't going to be expanding their practices.

I'm pretty sure that I've posted remarks about the physician supply problem since the Obamacare debate began (as have many others). Since it took 20 years for the gov't to create the problem, at best it would take them 20 years to undo the problem. (Think "Veterans Administration", "Post Office" and "FEMA"!)

But first, they must understand that there is a problem, which they don't. "Physician extenders" -- Nurse Practitioners and Physician's Assistants -- have been used for years, but the educational requirements are much less rigorous, and IMO the quality just isn't there.

My only advice is, "don't get sick". The only people who will do well under Obamacare are malpractice lawyers.

35
posted on 11/15/2012 4:20:35 AM PST
by Sooth2222
("Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of congress. But I repeat myself." M.Twain)

I’ve already lost my doctor to the Obamacare rules. My doctor owned a chain of about a dozen clinics, and being a physician, he also practiced in one of his clinics. Obamacare says that a doctor cannot own and operate a hospital or healthcare facility and practice in that place. My doc had a choice, stop being a doctor or give up his business. He chose to stop practicing medicine and just manage his chain of clinics. I had to find another doctor and now I’ve lost out by having a doctor who I’ve only seen twice versus one I’ve known for the past twenty years.

36
posted on 11/15/2012 4:27:22 AM PST
by BuffaloJack
(Children, pets, and slaves get taken care of. Free Men take care of themselves.)

Im wondering if we will see a push to use nurse practioners in an expanded role.

Didn't you read the bill?

"A major victory for nursing occurred with the designation of nurse-managed health clinics as eligible for federal funding in addition to a $50 million grant through the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Nurse-managed health clinics will help train more nurses in primary and preventive care while strengthening the nation's healthcare safety net. The nurse practitioners who staff nurse-managed health clinics are by far the nation's fastest growing segment of primary care providers. Offering cost-effective, high-quality care to patients regardless of their ability to pay, these clinics are perfectly positioned to fill the provider gap that has been well documented by the shortage of primary care physicians."

38
posted on 11/15/2012 4:34:15 AM PST
by Jim Noble
(Diseases desperate grown are by desperate appliance relieved or not at all.)

“Im wondering if we will see a push to use nurse practioners in an expanded role.”

Of course, and it will go much further than that. We'll get to the point at which you'll be seeing people with 1 or 2 year degrees ‘treating’ patients. Then the media will spout ‘studies’ about how the treatment people are getting is actually as good or better than from physicians. You can bet, however, that politicians will still be seeing MDs.

“Doctors will be replaced by computers. You enter your symptoms and the computer spits out a prescription.”

Way too much biological variability and way too many holes in what we understand to be able to approach medical care with a computer algorithm. Computers can be very helpful, but ultimately, it’s really a ‘fuzzy’ logic based discipline. That doesn’t mean they won’t try, but people will get hurt.

"I'm going to guess that tourist locations may be interested in US-trained doctors to take care of their visitors, and may provide life-style amenities in an effort to attract such."

It also looks like so called Medical Tourism is a growth industry in countries such as India, Costa Rica, Panama, etc. If you can schedule your procedure and travel, you can go to one of these countries and get first world treatment at second world prices.

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